TITLE:
Influence of Some Cultural Practices on the Incidence and Severity of Leaf Spot Disease of Telfairia occidentalis in Dschang
AUTHORS:
Kpu Andrew Kebei, Mbong Grace Annih, Agyingi Lucy Ambang
KEYWORDS:
Telfairia occidentalis, Cultural Practices, Incidence, Severity
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.11 No.12,
December
4,
2020
ABSTRACT: Fungi diseases are major diseases of Telfairia occidentalis (fluted pumpkin)
in the major growing areas of the crop in Cameroon. This study was conducted
between March and June in the cropping seasons of 2019 and 2020 to determine
the effect of some cultural strategies viz.:
tillage and no till, variation of sowing date and removal of diseased leaves on
the incidence and severity of leaf spot disease caused by Phoma sorghina. There were four
sowing dates, and two tillage systems with no variation in planting distance in
the two cropping seasons. The design used was Randomized Complete Block Design
(RCBD) with three replications. There were three plots for each sowing date
within each replication. Seeds were sown at the rate of 1 m × 1 m, with four
seeds per experimental unit. Data for disease incidence and severity was
recorded every fortnight, commencing three weeks after emergence (WAE) and for
a period of eight weeks for each sowing date. Disease incidence and severity was
determined using Microsoft Excel 2010 and the data was subjected to statistical
analysis and the means separated by Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 95%
confidence interval. In addition, the relationship between disease incidence
and disease severity was also determined using Pearson correlation. Analysis of
variance showed that there was no significant difference in leaf spot disease
incidence at till and no-till units within this study period irrespective of
sowing date. However, significant differences in leaf spot disease incidence
and severity was recorded between the two cropping seasons. Sowing date four
recorded the highest disease severity (1.611 ± 0.73) compared to sowing date
two and three which was significant but comparable to sowing date one. The
lowest disease severity (1.257 ± 0.697) was documented at sowing date two
compared to sowing date one and four but comparable to sowing date three. Pearson
correlation analysis revealed that there was a significant positive correlation
(+0.560) between leaf spot disease incidence and severity which was
statistically significant at α = 0.01
(p In
order to enhance production of Telfairia
occidentalis leaves with reduced disease incidence and severity, sowing
dates two and three (first and second weeks of April respectively) coupled with
removal of disease leaves every fortnight could regardless of tillage systems
well manage leaf spot disease compared to sowing dates one and four.